Click on any | 
For the Living of These Days finds Kate Campbell returning to the rich, deep wells that have sustained her musical journey since 1995's Songs from the Levee. That debut album introduced her as an artist tapped into the Southern literary bloodline of Flannery O'Connor and William Faulkner. An abiding fascination with storytelling, race, religion, history and the day-to-day happenings of people's lives continue to fuel Kate's creative pursuits on this collection. Similarly, an ongoing love affair with the musical traditions and folkways of her native South led her to once again record at the hallowed Fame Studios in Muscle Shoals, Alabama and choose the legendary Spooner Oldham as her musical partner for the project. SPOONER Kate's relationship with Spooner goes back to the 1960s when she became fascinated with the sounds emanating from Muscle Shoals on tunes such as Percy Sledge's "When A Man Loves a Woman" and Aretha Franklin's "I Never Loved a Man (The Way That I Loved You)" – which are but two examples of Spooner's vital contributions to American music. He would go on to record and perform with some of music's most celebrated artists, including idiosyncratic icons Bob Dylan and Neil Young, before meeting Kate in 1995 during a chance encounter at the office of Fame Publishing in Muscle Shoals. After opening a few shows for Spooner and his longtime writing partner Dan Penn, Kate invited Spooner to play organ on her 1997 release Moonpie Dreams. He's appeared on nearly every one of Kate's albums since, including 1998's Visions of Plenty, 1999's Rosaryville, 2001's Wandering Strange and 2003's Monuments, providing a direct link to the Southern soul Kate counts as a primary source in her music. VISION As with most of her albums, Kate spent several years thinking about what approach to take with the project that would become For the Living of These Days. People kept asking her for another album similar to 2001's Wandering Strange, which found Kate recasting the hymns she'd grown up singing in the Baptist church in her favorite musical style: ‘60s soul with a heavy dose of the Muscle Shoals sound. Still, she wasn't quite sure how to go about doing a second gospel album until someone gave her a copy of Mavis Staples and Lucky Peterson's 1996 album Spirituals and Gospels: Dedicated to Mahalia Jackson – which takes a bare bones approach to Mahalia's tunes with just Staples on vocals and Peterson on Hammond B-3 organ and piano. Kate's thoughts quickly turned to Spooner as an ideal musical partner for a similar project because of his easy going nature and his willingness to take chances and capture the moment in the studio. With 2005's Blues and Lamentations, Kate had used a minimal number of musicians and begun capturing more moments live in the studio, but For the Living of These Days would turn out to be her most in-the-moment recording to date with many of the performances recorded in just one take. SONGS When choosing the songs for the album, Kate returned once again to her favorite source materials: her parents' small but vital record collection, the Baptist hymnal, classic folk, soul and country music, and the pens of Alabama's finest songwriters. As a child, Kate was raised on the gospel records of Mahalia Jackson, Pearl Bailey and Elvis Presley, where she first heard "There is a Balm in Gilead" and Mylon LeFevre's tune "Without Him." These songs, along with "God of Grace and God of Glory" and "There's a Wideness in God's Mercy" appeared in the Baptist hymnal Kate would read through in church when she got bored with the sermon. Hymns became an essential part of her musical DNA, and Kate returned to the hymnbook for inspiration while in college and, later, as she embarked on her music career. Through the years, Kate has continued her own spiritual journey and found herself drawn to the life of Christ and what he said about how human beings treat one another, also referred to as the Social Gospel. This idea is established as a theme of For the Living of These Days with Woody Guthrie's "Jesus Christ" chosen as the album's opening tune. The idea of Jesus' teachings in the present day is established as a foundational element to the album with Guthrie asserting that Jesus Christ's message would end with the same result if he were to preach it to the citizens of New York City circa 1940. The same idea reappears later in the album with Kris Kristofferson's "They Killed Him," which name checks 20th century peacemakers Mahatma Gandhi and Martin Luther King, Jr. alongside Jesus Christ as leaders and teachers whose messages got them killed. In a similar vein, Bobby Braddock's "Would They Love Him Down in Shreveport" presents the idea of Jesus Christ making wine from water and hanging out with prostitutes and thieves in modern day America and the possible reactions of stunned churchgoers if he were to take such actions in their backyards. The idea of denying pivotal events such as the Holocaust and Trail of Tears is also addressed in Kate's own tune "Terrible Mercy," – co-written with yet another Alabamian, Mark Narmore. Though "Terrible Mercy" points out the quite popular "solution" of just turning a blind eye to the world's problems, the chorus of this song points to a very present remedy -- mercy. In fact, the harsh realities faced throughout the album are tempered with a heavy dose of mercy beginning with the second song, "If I Ever Get to Heaven," which Spooner and Kate co-wrote as a musing upon what the hereafter might actually be like. These remembrances of mercy continue with the inclusion of hymns such as "God of Grace and God of Glory," "There's a Wideness in God's Mercy," the Celtic strains of "Be Thou My Vision," and another original tune "Dark Night of the Soul," which Kate wrote with long-time collaborator and Alabama native Walt Aldridge. Inspired by the writings of the 16th century Spanish mystic Saint John of the Cross, "Dark Night of The Soul" is followed by the Southern Gospel-steeped "When I Let Jesus Take My Hand," another original song written by Spooner and his wife Karen while driving home to Muscle Shoals in the midst of a dense fog. Though they use two different styles of language, Kate feels both "When I Let Jesus Take My Hand" and "Dark Night of the Soul" convey the same topic of letting go and allowing a higher power to guide though difficult times. This guiding mercy is also evident in "The Prayer of Thomas Merton," which is an actual prayer taken from the Trappist monk's 1958 book Thoughts in Solitude. Both Kate and her husband, Ira, were drawn to the prayer for its portrayal of the uncertainties involved in daily living and the assurance of God's faithfulness. One day earlier this year, both Kate and Ira separately had the same idea that she should put the prayer to music, which all but sealed its appearance on For the Living of These Days. Perhaps the most arresting pictures of mercy and hope on the album are reserved for the two closing tracks beginning with "Faces in the Water." Written by native Alabamian Dr. Greg McPherson, the song refers to the recently erected Civil Rights memorial in Montgomery, Alabama honoring those who gave their lives, both literally and figuratively, for racial equality and peace. The album's closing hymn "There is a Balm in Gilead," speaks as both an assurance of rest after this life and a comfort to those still battling with a "sin sick" soul here on earth. Kate was drawn to the sense of healing and hope heard in the song…that one day all will be made right and the chains that bind on earth will be broken. As with any Kate Campbell album, repeated listening to For the Living of These Days is strongly suggested since the songs tend to take on deeper or different meanings over time – even for Kate herself. After the last note has faded on this album, Kate hopes the listener will have come to a wider understanding of both the genius of Spooner Oldham and the messages conveyed in these songs and the lives that inspired them….may they offer guidance, encouragement, and hope for the living of these days. Hunter Kelly
|
